Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

Joseph Joubert

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Name: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Author: Joseph Joubert

Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.

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The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume IIYEAR 1815 · Entry 7297

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French Page · Branch 3516 of 4529

YEAR 1815 · Entry 7297

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 7031

[…] février.

Les seuls métaphysiciens le méconnurent parce que son style […]gréable ne leur parut pas assés profond, ne scachant pas qu’en méta[…]hysique surtout les images et les couleurs trompent moins que les […]bstractions et les ombres parce qu’on les distingue mieux; et ce qui […]st le plus semblable à la lumière est toujours plus semblable à la […]érité.

Les abstractions parlent bien des êtres abstraits, mais non pas des […]étaphysiques.

L’évidence du sentiment. On se sent mieux qu’on ne se voit.

Et que les êtres métaphysiques, Dieu, l’âme humaine et les esprits, […] connoissent par sentiment beaucoup plus que par conjecture et […]rtout par combinaison.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1815

p. 7032

February […].

Only the metaphysicians failed to recognize him because his [pleasing] style did not seem deep enough to them, not knowing that in [metaphysics] especially, images and colors deceive less than [abstractions] and shadows because we distinguish them better; and what most [resembles] light always more closely resembles [truth].

Abstractions speak well about abstract beings, but not about [metaphysical] ones.

The evidence of feeling. One feels oneself better than one sees oneself.

And that metaphysical beings, God, the human soul and spirits, [are] known through feeling much more than through conjecture and [above all] through combination.

T103.Only, enough, especially, less, better, most and always preserve the qualifications and comparisons. The not-knowing participle refers to the metaphysicians. The unnamed him is not independently identified; the repeated light/truth relation remains Joubert’s formulation. [Pleasing], [metaphysics], [abstractions] and [truth] render […]gréable, méta[…]hysique, […]bstractions and […]érité. The first [resembles] broadly renders damaged […]st together with intact le plus semblable; most remains separately expressed. The second resembles has intact support. Literal assés and scachant remain in French; no day is completed in […] février.

T486.Four paragraphs remain under this one damaged date; its surviving joined component does not securely establish a complete 5/6 or other numeral. The first paragraph retains seuls, the two negative constructions, assés with s and acute, literal scachant, moins/mieux and repeated semblable. At the first paragraph’s damaged openings only gréable, hysique after méta-, bstractions, st and érité are retained. The missing a/p/a/e/v forms are not supplied. The g/r, h/b and accented e contours remain abraded but identifiable at the qualified color/native level. Paragraph 2 preserves only étaphysiques after the incomplete initial m components. Paragraph 3 remains a nominal formulation followed by a comparative reflexive statement. Paragraph 4 begins the dependent Et que and retains its complete subject list, much-more comparison and conjecture/combination distinction. Before connoissent only incomplete small strokes survive, so no complete se or final e is certified. Before rtout, the preceding s/u structures remain incomplete. No missing reflexive or degree word is supplied in the French source from the syntax.

T104.The repeated abstract root, explicit but and elliptical final beings remain. About avoids making speak well a necessary statement of praise, while preserving the claim that abstractions can adequately discuss their own kind of being. [Metaphysical] contextually renders […]étaphysiques; ones supplies the elliptical noun in English without representing another source loss.

T105.Evidence renders évidence in the context of immediate self-apprehension, rather than asserting empirical data. The nominal opening and reflexive feels/sees comparison remain distinct.

T106.The dependent And that opening is not converted into an independent conclusion. All three examples and feeling/conjecture/combination remain. The compressed placement of especially or above all in the final comparison is left visible; no additional doctrine or uniquely settled scope is supplied. [Are] known selects a conjectural passive/reflexive interpretation of the wholly unreadable slot before intact connoissent, plausibly se; that French word is not certified or restored. The complete English degree phrase [above all] renders damaged […]rtout. This provisional construction leaves the final comparison’s scope open.

About This Reading Edition

Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.

Historical Text and Translation

The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume II continues the notebooks and includes seventy undated pieces. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.

Rights

The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.